BBC Three - Hometown: A Killing

[KingKhanWC]

Award-winning journalist Mobeen Azhar moves back to his hometown of Huddersfield to cover the death of Mohammed Yassar Yaqub. Described in court as a 28-year-old office clerk, Yassar Yaqub was shot dead by police on an M62 slip road on a cold and wet January evening in 2017. Celebrated by his family as a loving son and beloved father, his death led to protests on the streets of West Yorkshire, and in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement a ‘Justice 4 Yassar’ campaign was born.

But with rumours of drug empires, money laundering and high performance cars, just days into his reporting of the case Mobeen realises that there is a much bigger story in town. With violence on the streets and a town that is terrified to talk, Mobeen attempts to find out where the truth really lies in a journey that forces him to face some ugly truths about his community and hometown

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episo...d-HTu6t4LZWedEKlbYgG3eBBrWbFud_op7jIl8Y1nTcfk

Has anyone seen this yet?

 

[Technics 1210]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episo...d-HTu6t4LZWedEKlbYgG3eBBrWbFud_op7jIl8Y1nTcfk

Has anyone seen this yet?

I am on Episode 4 right now (binge watching it), and to be fair, the information is nothing new especially if one lives in Yorkshire but none-the-less interesting content.

However, the reality is the mention of Islam has zero connection with the story, which is why I believe the documentary thus far is a veiled attempt to smear Islam and Muslims. It's fine to highlight the demographic of the heroin dealers, but their religion has no significance. For example, a drug dealer mentions how the price of drugs goes up during Christmas and Ramadan, and the documentary then focuses on mosques and how drug dealing is haram etc. I mean ***? Rather than talk about why there is a drug problem and obviously it is illegal, the documentary focuses on what Islam has to say about drug dealing.

So my question is, why is this particular story of Yasser Yaqub gaining attention when there are King Pins across the UK of different races and creeds.

Saying this, certainly brought back some sweet memories of Bradford!

 

[Technics 1210]

Finished all 6 episodes.

In summary, don't bother. This doc is less to do with Yasser Yacub, and more to do with how the Muslim community *should* deal with issues such a terrorism, grooming, and drug dealing, in a country where the media disproportionately reports on Muslims, and generalises the actions of Muslims. Remember the question is, *how did my sleepy hometown become a violent crime hotspot?( - Well, it's got nothing to do with Islam as Mobeen Azhar is trying to portray.

It's as I anticipated, a veiled attempt at smearing Islam under the guise of a shooting on the M62, but does a poor job. One of the drug dealers pulls up Mobeen in episode 5 by stating drug dealers are predominately white and it's not just *asians* to which Mobeen stuttered and came out with some lefty liberal nonsense.

Don't waste your time, it's clear why Mobeen was funded by the BBC because this low quality documentary wouldn't pass the pilot phase.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Haven’t seen it but the article Azhar wrote re this issue is an interested read.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/595fH2sGQh/How_did_my_hometown_become_a_violent_crime_hotspot

How did my sleepy hometown become a violent crime hotspot?

I returned to Huddersfield to write an article about a police shooting.

I found violence, rumours and a wall of silence.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Finished all 6 episodes.

In summary, don't bother. This doc is less to do with Yasser Yacub, and more to do with how the Muslim community *should* deal with issues such a terrorism, grooming, and drug dealing, in a country where the media disproportionately reports on Muslims, and generalises the actions of Muslims. Remember the question is, *how did my sleepy hometown become a violent crime hotspot?( - Well, it's got nothing to do with Islam as Mobeen Azhar is trying to portray.

It's as I anticipated, a veiled attempt at smearing Islam under the guise of a shooting on the M62, but does a poor job. One of the drug dealers pulls up Mobeen in episode 5 by stating drug dealers are predominately white and it's not just *asians* to which Mobeen stuttered and came out with some lefty liberal nonsense.

Don't waste your time, it's clear why Mobeen was funded by the BBC because this low quality documentary wouldn't pass the pilot phase.

Thanks. I felt it would be another poor BBC documenatry linking the religion with crimes. What these idiots need to understand is drinking, drugs and fornication are not Islamic values but more to do with British culture. As for drugs, they will of course find some man with a beard who will justify it and make it seem as though most Muslims feel the same. I wont bother wasting my time watching this.

 

[Technics 1210]

Thanks. I felt it would be another poor BBC documenatry linking the religion with crimes. What these idiots need to understand is drinking, drugs and fornication are not Islamic values but more to do with British culture. As for drugs, they will of course find some man with a beard who will justify it and make it seem as though most Muslims feel the same. I wont bother wasting my time watching this.

I regret wasting my time on this. I though the documentary as on the miscarriage of justice, instead, like you say, it was an attempt to link religion with crime. I mean the audacity to mention heroin prices went up during Ramadan when the same program stated that the majority of drug dealers are white.

 

[Saj]

Just started watching this now.

Sounds interesting.

 

[DeadBall]

I am on Episode 4 right now (binge watching it), and to be fair, the information is nothing new especially if one lives in Yorkshire but none-the-less interesting content.

However, the reality is the mention of Islam has zero connection with the story, which is why I believe the documentary thus far is a veiled attempt to smear Islam and Muslims. It's fine to highlight the demographic of the heroin dealers, but their religion has no significance. For example, a drug dealer mentions how the price of drugs goes up during Christmas and Ramadan, and the documentary then focuses on mosques and how drug dealing is haram etc. I mean ***? Rather than talk about why there is a drug problem and obviously it is illegal, the documentary focuses on what Islam has to say about drug dealing.

So my question is, why is this particular story of Yasser Yaqub gaining attention when there are King Pins across the UK of different races and creeds.

Saying this, certainly brought back some sweet memories of Bradford!

Drug or bootleg alcohol (in Muslim countries) prices going up during Ramadan or Christmas/Eid/holidays is basic supply and demand as one has to do with abstinence/unavailability therefore increasing the risk and reducing the profits thus leading to increased prices and the other with over indulgence or the need to just feel "happier" during the celebratory periods.

 

[dblock]

Several themes came out of this series.

- Smaller northern towns do have a serious drug and criminality problem. So do other areas but places like Huddersfield decades ago you would not readily associate with this type of problem.

- Pakistanis are a significant part of this problem maybe not because they are minority or majority involved (don't have actual facts to side either way) but there is a reluctantance to talk about this issue in families.

- Mobeen used this documentary to platform himself (not least all the nostalgic childhood footage) also just focussing on uncovering dark secrets within the community when actually he should be asking more sensible questions. It's not surprising that people in a small town who probably know each other will want to bad mouth a dead person esp by the nature of his killing. Having said the the father's denial of facts relating to his sons conduct was cringe to watch.

- A bit too much focus was on the sensationalist element of the drug trafficking and it didn't seem a genuine attempt to resolve the problem. For example lots of focus on the street value of drugs going into the hundreds of thousands..but hard to follow the economics of this trade .. who were the buyers with such large amounts of cash in these small towns. He could only track down a few homeless addicts buying £20 at a time. Also very little relative comparison when quoting stats on the number of incidents - were these rates much higher than other cities or towns?

Still quite fascinating but dispearing watch, especially for those who either live or been to towns focussed on.